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Gretchen Heller
graduated from The University of Michigan, completing her Bachelor of
Arts Degree with distinction in honors English. She is a member in
several academic honor societies including Phi Kappa Phi, and in 2002
was awarded the James B. Angell Scholar Award for Academic
Excellence. While at the university, she pursued a double major in
English and Violin Performance, studying with Andrew Jennings, and
performed in many university and local orchestras.
Heller was born
and raised in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida where she receive numerous
local, state, and national awards as a pianist, violinist, and
composer, as well as many academic honors. At age eight, she composed Moods
in C, which was published in the October 1990 issue of
Clavier’s Piano Explorer and took first place in the Federation
of Music Club’s Junior Composers Contest.
Since then, her
original compositions have earned eight Federation awards, and three
first place awards in the Federation’s South East Regional
Composition Contests. In 1993, Heller wrote Silver Ridge Rag
which won the Lynn Freeman Olson National Composition Contest. Silver
Ridge Rag was also selected for the National Federation of Music
Club's Junior Festival Bulletin for 1995-1997 as a required piece in
the Elementary III Division.
At age 15, Heller
wrote Ballad of the Matador which was awarded state and
southeast regional prizes and was published by The FJH Music Company. Ballad
of the Matador was selected for the National Federation’s
Junior Festival Bulletin for 2001-2003 as a required piece in the
Moderately Difficult III Class. Her newest work, Tale of the Tempest,
has just been released.
Heller plans to
attend graduate school, and to continue with her endeavors in
composition and performance. |
